This week was particularly turbulent in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin’s price crashed to $30K following comments made by Elon Musk, who keeps teasing Dogecoin HODLers. Meanwhile, we also saw old China FUD recycled yet again.
Starting off with bitcoin’s price performance, the week was rather unfortunate for bulls. BTC is down about 25% in the past seven days, currently sitting at $37K. It’s worth noting, though, that the cryptocurrency fell even lower, briefly touching $30K on Wednesday, going through the biggest correction through this bull cycle. It’s not yet clear whether the pain is over, as the market looks quite indecisive, despite the recent recovery.
The altcoins followed suit. Ethereum is down 39%, BNB – 46% and the majority of large-cap cryptocurrencies charted similar declines.
The market started crashing earlier in the week when Elon Musk went on to bash Bitcoin for its inefficient mining process, saying that the primary cryptocurrency is actually rather centralized because of the high concentration of hashrate in China. This sparked a massive debate on crypto Twitter, with many calling him out for the fact that Tesla is heavily subsidized, while SpaceX relies on fossil fuels to power up its rockets. He also teased about Dogecoin going to $1.Elon
The bad news didn’t stop with Musk, though. Around the same time, three self-regulatory bodies in China reiterated old restrictions on cryptocurrencies, causing further dips in the price. Just today, the State Council of the country, once again, reminded about the crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading.
The entire ordeal caused massive liquidations on Wednesday, as over $8 billion worth of leveraged long and short positions were wiped off in less than 24 hours.
It’s also worth noting that Bitcoin’s dominance increased throughout the week, showing that the primary cryptocurrency managed to recover somewhat better than the rest of the market.
It’s interesting to see how the next seven days will shape up, but if one thing is true, it’s that there are no boring days in crypto.
Market Data
Market Cap: $1585B | 24H Vol: 208B | BTC Dominance: 43.4%
BTC: $36,811(-25.81%) | ETH: $2,449 (-39.4%) | XRP: $1.03 (-26.3%)
This Week’s Headlines You Better Not Miss
Vitalik Buterin: Crypto is a Bubble But Isn’t a Toy. Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum and arguably one of the most influential people in the industry, believes that crypto is a bubble. He said that we’ve seen this multiple times, and the reason for their burst is usually because the technology isn’t there yet.
US Investors Will Have to Report Cryptocurrency Transactions Over $10K to the IRS. The United States Treasury has officially called for stricter regulations and compliance measures for cryptocurrencies, claiming that there’s risk of tax evasion in the space. From 2023 onwards, investors will be obligated to report transactions over $10K.
How Does the May 19th Bitcoin Correction Compare to History?. The most recent correction in the cryptocurrency market was a vicious one, as BTC lost over 50% of its value from its ATH to Wednesday’s bottom. However, it’s worth looking at it historically and seeing where exactly it falls compared to other stark corrections of the kind.
Bitcoin Bull Run Still ‘In Tact’, According to SkyBridge Capital’s Anthony Scaramucci. According to Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of SkyBridge Capital, Bitcoin’s 2021 bull cycle was paused, but it wasn’t entirely stopped. His comments come amid a market-wide correction.
Bitcoin is Still a Safe Investment Especially at Lower Prices, Says Bill Miller. American investor and hedge fund manager Bill Miller still considers bitcoin to be a safe investment. In fact, he also said that the lower price at the moment makes it even more attractive. He said that if he liked it at higher prices, it’s safe to say that he will like it even more at lower prices.
Elon Musk, Michael Saylor, Peter Schiff, and Others: Community Reacts to Bitcoin’s Bloodbath. The entire cryptocurrency market went through a massive crash over the week, and even though it managed to rebound, it’s still very far away from its peak. With this said, many influential people and proponents (and not only) reacted to what happened.
Charts
This week we have a chart analysis of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Binance Coin, and Polkadot – click here for the full price analysis.